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The First Manuscript Map of San Francisco Bay 

Finely drawn manuscript map of San Francisco Bay and part of Rio de Sn Francisco (Sacramento River), constructed as part of the first official expedition to explore San Francisco Bay, which was undertaken by Pedro Fages, Juan Crespi and a small contingent of Spanish soldiers from March 20, 1772 to April 4, 1772.

Drawn shortly after the completion of the first official expedition to explore the San Francisco Bay region, the present map is one of several contemporary hand-drawn maps illustrating the expedition.

Historical Overview of the Discovery and Mapping of San Francisco Bay

While the coast of California had been explored and primitively mapped as early as Cabrillo's expedition of 1542-43,  remarkably, San Francisco Bay had gone completely unnoticed by Spanish and other explorers until November 1, 1769, when Jose Francisco Ortega and a group of scouts under the direction of Gaspar de Portola inadvertently overshot Monterey Bay (on an expedition from San Diego) and first discovered the existence of San Francisco Bay, which they inadvertently mistook for Drake's Bay, and identifying it in their journals as "Estero de San Francisco."  One of the members of Portola's expedition, Miguel Costanso, would record this information on the first manuscript map of the coastline to incorporate the discovery.

The first appearance of San Francisco Bay is on Miguel Constanso's map of the California coastline. Curiously the original Constanso manuscript did not include San Francisco Bay (Estero de San Francisco), but the printed version by Tomas Lopez does, in fact, add this new discovery. Harlow notes that

the bay is probably based upon sketches made by Constanso in 1769; he records the making of a rough map of the outer Bay of the Faralones, Pedro Fages mentioned this or another map by Costanso, and it is unlikely that other preliminary sketches were prepared.

Following the Portola expedition's sighting, San Francisco Bay would next be visited by Pedro Fages on November 21, 1770, in a failed overland attempt to reach Point Reyes, in order to scout out a suitable location for a mission in the Point Reyes area.  On a second expedition, Fages finally reached Point Reyes in July 1771, but did not map the bay, a distinction left to the Fages and Crespi party in March 1772. Harlow notes:

The Mapa of 1772 was made by Crespi to accompany his diary of the Fages expedition of that year to San Francisco Bay, and references to work on the map during the journey are found in his account. The map is as significant as it is odd, for it graphically records the prevailing confusion regarding the area. The outer Bay of the Farallones is compressed into a shape comparable to the existing Gold Gate Channel, with the seven Farallones guarding its entrance. Along the northern shore of this open bay appears the name "Puerto de Sn. Francisco," identifying the old San Francisco Bay situated near Point Reyes. Tributary to old San Francisco is the new and unnamed bay, comprising the 'two great estuaries" of which Crespi wrote, one terminating in the south, the other leading to the lake-like "Bahia redonda" (San Pablo) and the far "River of San Francisco." . . .

Two examples of the manuscript are found, with varying titles. That in the Archivo General de Indias, Seville, is quoted above. The other in the archives of the Ministerio de Guerra, Madrid, bears the following legend: Carta del Puerto y Rio de Sn. Fransciso explorado por tierra en el mes de Marzo del presente año de 1772, formado por el diario del R.P. Fr. Juan Crespey, misionero apco, del Colegio de Franciscos, observantes de propaganda fide de S. Fernando de Mexico y ministro de la na. mission de Monterrei. Crespi's original diary and map were given to Palou, who sent them to the Franciscan college of San Fernando in Mexico. Fr. Rafael Verger, guardian of the college, then apparently had a copy of them made which he spent to Spain, this map being the one now in the Archivo General. Although Wagner attributes this copy to Verger, the map is certainly Crespi's, the copying, perhaps, Verger's. Whether the Carta del Puerto in Madrid is the original, also transported to Spain, or yet another copy is not known. Other contemporary copies were made.

Regarding such "other copies", in the Diary of Pedro Font (as translated by Herbert Bolton), Font notes:

I occupied myself today [March 20, 1776] in copying the map of the port of San Francisco which my cousin, Pablo Font, made in Mexico from the data in the diary kept by Fray Juan Crespi in that journey which he made with Captain Fages [1772]"

The following is the link to a facsimile copy in the Library of Congress, the original is in Dep. de la Guerra. Madrid. Arch, de Mapas. L. M. 8a.-la.-No. 41. : /gallery/enlarge/43827a

The first formal attempt to map San Francisco Bay was undertaken 3 years later in 1775, in preparation for the arrival of the first colonists.  Juan Manuel de Ayala led an expedition by sea into the bay and a survey was undertaken by his first pilot, Jose de Cañizares, during August and September 1775, which resulted in his Plano del Puerto de San Francisco.  Over the course of the next several years, Cañizares and others would return several times to improve the survey.  Josef Camacho would further improve the survey work when he visited San Francisco with the Bodega y Quadra expedition of 1779.

Comparing The Surviving Maps

The present map was almost certainly created in the short window of time between the Fages-Crespi expedition of 1772, and the broader dissemination of the information gleaned from the Cañizares surveys of 1775 and 1776.

Of the several surviving examples of this first map of the bay, each has different characteristics.  The map which accompanies Crespi's diary is quite elaborately constructed, with elaborate names and detailed topographical features.  The example in Madrid illustrated above is a more technically executed and less embellished map.  The present example offered here is in a similar style as the Madrid map, but incorporates one primary difference from the other two, the incorporation of rhumb lines, as if constructed to aid navigation by sea, a feature not present in the Diary map or the Madrid map.

While it is possible to draw differing conclusions, it would seem likely that the three maps were constructed from a now lost common ancestor, as none of the three would appear to be a common source for the other two maps.

Similarly, while it is possible to conclude that the present manuscript map may have been constructed in aid of the Ayala-Cañizares expedition of 1775 because of its inclusion of rhumb lines, there is no conclusive evidence to make this link.  However, as noted below, there is fairly strong evidence to suggest that the map was drawn in Alta California.

Juan Crespi

Crespi was born in 1721 on the island of Mallorca, where he was also educated, being a schoolmate of Francisco Palou. He came to San Fernando de Mexico in 1749 and was sent two years later to the Fame missions of the Sierra Gorda, where he served over sixteen years, particularly distinguishing himself by the erection of a large stone church in the Valle del Tilaco, the mural decorations of which he paid out of his own scanty salary. He arrived in Baja California in April 1768 and served on the peninsula at La Purisima.

Crespi accompanied the first land expedition which reached San Diego in May 1769, and a little later was one of the parties that searched for Monterey and discovered San Francisco Bay.

HH Bancroft notes:

Crespi's diaries of both these trips are extant and have been utilized in my narrative. Returning from San Diego to Monterey in 1770 he assisted in founding the mission of San Carlos in June, and served there as minister until March 1772. Then he went with Lieutenant Fages to the San Joaquin River, of which exploration his diary is the only record. He was now sent south to serve with Jaume at San Diego from May to September, and returning resumed his duties at San Carlos, where with the exception of two short periods of absence, he toiled until his death. From June to August 1774, he served as chaplain on board the Santiago in northern waters, writing a diary of the voyage; and in the autumn of 1781 he accompanied Serra to San Francisco and Santa Clara. On his return from this last journey he was attacked by a fatal illness. It was from his old friend, companion, and superior Father Junfpero, that Crespi received the last consolatory rites of his religion, and his body was interred in the mission church within the presbytery on the gospel side, with the assistance of commandant and garrison, and amid tears from his flock of neophytes, who lost a true friend in Padre Juan."

Paper, Watermark & Provenance

The present map is on an 18th-century handmade laid paper, bearing the Strasburg Lily watermark identified by Churchill as Number 404 (Lily inside an Escutchen, surmounted by a crown, with embellishment below consisting of the initials VDL and a pattern resembling the number 4). VDL stands for Van der Ley, a papermaking producer from the Zaanstreek, located in the northern part of Holland. According to Henk Voorn, De papiermolens in de provincie Noord-Holland, Van der Ley began to add the monogram to their watermark shortly before 1750 (p. 121). Churchill notes that this paper was first made circa 1725.

The paper on which the map is drawn consists of four separate rectangular pieces of paper, meticulously joined in an irregular pattern, to create a larger rectangular sheet. The seams of this joinder can be seen along the right side of the map (most notably toward the lower part of the unnamed mountain range to the right of "Baya de S. Francisco") and across the top part of the map (beginning at the left edge of the paper and crossing through the "o" in "Rio", extending about 80% across the map, just above the scale of miles, before ending in a "T" intersection with one of the other sheets directly above the upper unnamed mountain range at the right of the map).

This creation of a larger sheet from 4 smaller sheets strongly suggests that the sheet on which the map was drawn was assembled in California, quite possibly at the Mission San Carlos de Monterey. Had the map been drawn in Spain or in Mexico City, there would have been ample paper of sufficient size to draw the map on either a single sheet or 2 joined sheets. Moreover, the joinder in this style is suggestive of the map being assembled and corrected as it was drawn.  In the 18th Century, during the creation of a manuscript map, it was not unusual to cut away sections of the map which were unsatisfactory during the drafting process and add in corrected sections in the manner illustrated with this map.  In other words, rather than starting over with a new sheet, the mapmaker would simply cut away the sections which he wished to edit and add join in blank paper upon which the revisions would be made to the original draft of the map.

The present copy was, therefore, most likely drawn in California within the first few years after the original Crespi expedition to the Bay, as within a few years, a far more advanced mapping of the Bay had been created.

Provenance

Swann Galleries, May 21, 1998, Lot 48.